4th of July Weekend was a perfect time for a family backyard clambake delivery to Easton, MA from B&M Catering. How did it all work out?

~ This is a guest blog from our friend, Susan ~

The 4th of July weekend turned out to be a perfect weekend to invite my family and friends over for a backyard get-together at our home in Easton, MA.  But, like many of you, I am a very busy person.  4 kids, a full-time job and a great, big puppy leave me little time for shopping, preparing and cooking for events. The B&M Catering Clambake-to-Travel seemed to be the perfect solution.  And it was…. Here’s why….

lobster bibs and crackers

To be honest, although there are a number of things I am quite good at, party-planning, menu creation and execution are not on that list.  When it comes to ordering food, I am completely clueless!  What items to order?  How much to order? What about my friends with dietary restrictions? (OY – vegan, vegetarian, lactose-free, gluten-free, low fat, high protein – so many!) What’s the best way to serve it? What other stuff should I buy? 

Grandma Fran

Having known Tim for a while, now, I should have known he would not only have all of the answers to those questions, he would guide me through other considerations I would never even have thought about.  Yup, of course, we would need crackers and picks. Bibs? Great idea! (Grandma Fran made good use of hers! Others, who didn’t use the bibs, probably should have!)

 

Oh, right, melted butter – sure, folks would like that. Order a platter of sausage, pepper and onion for anyone who did not want the seafood.  Pick up some bread from the market in case anyone wanted sandwiches later in the evening. THIS is why Tim is so good at what he does…..he thinks of everything!

We were just going to send someone down to Pawtucket to pick up the clambakes, but ended up having the B&M Catering’s delivery service bring it all up to us.  (Can you see how easy this was for me!?) 

Bobby and Billy, brothers from Mansfield, carried all of the boxes of food right out back to our deck. (We made sure to put the goats in their pen, first, otherwise, the brothers might have a bit more adventure to their day than they expected)  They gave us the scoop on how the clambakes were layered in the reusable pot:

  • Clams and mussels at the top
  • Lobsters next
  • Potatoes, onions and chourisco
  • Corn on the cob on the bottom
clambake pot in the box
clams and mussels in the clambake pot
lobster in the pot

Seaweed was in between the layers to keep everything insulated and moist. The pots were packed in large Styrofoam boxes.  The food was HOT! And it stayed hot for a really long time.  One of the boxes had containers of clam broth to rinse the clams and mussels.  The other box had the containers of melted butter for lobster dipping. All we had to do was open up the pots, empty the individual net bags into the trays we had on our buffet tables.  Tim, of course, sent along the small cups for individual servings of the broth and butter.  (He really does think of everything.)

We rang the dinner bell, and everyone at Buttonwood Farm gathered on the back deck to get busy.

happy clambake diners

clambake buffet

Honestly, my family and friends went crazy for the food. (Well, some of them were a little crazy before the food, but I am talking about something else here)  Everything was just so delicious.  And there was so much food. It was a special treat for all of us.

lobster dinner delivery

Time for leftovers. Again, I have to mention that I am not very good at dealing with food.  However, I have some friends who are great at dealing with food – and they got right to it.

leftover management

Sausage was packaged up for late-night sandwiches. They shucked all of the leftover steamers and mussels.  They took all of the meat out of the remaining lobsters.  Grandma Fran took home an entire lobster just for herself.  Tricia took home some of the leftovers to try new recipes for her food blog.  Gail took home a plate of food for her husband, who, unfortunately had to work late that night.  In short order, the food was distributed or packaged away for us for the rest of the weekend.  That left the rest of the evening for lots of Jenga challenge!

jenga

I am very grateful to Tim, Mickey and Brian for helping me throw a really wonderful party for my family and friends.